Editor Jon Meacham On Sarah Palin's Folksiness: 'Do We Want Leaders Who Are Everyday Folks ... Or Who Understand Everyday Folks?' Palin's Populist View Of High Office -- Hey, Vice President Six-Pack, What Should We Do About Pakistan? -- Is Dangerous
NEW YORK, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham writes in an
essay that the honest explanation of the rationale for Sarah Palin's candidacy
-- not her preparedness for office, but her personality and nascent
maverickism in Alaska -- raises an important question, not only about this
election but about democratic leadership. "Do we want leaders who are everyday
folks, or do we want leaders who understand everyday folks? Therein lies an
enormous difference, one that could decide the presidential election and, if
McCain and Palin were to win, shape the governance of the nation."
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081005/NYSU002 )
In the October 13 Newsweek cover, "She's One of The Folks (And that's the
problem)" (on newsstands Monday, October 6), Meacham examines this question of
Palin's folksiness, looking at how it's a liability for the campaign and the
country. Sitting with her for part of the Katie Couric interview on CBS, John
McCain implicitly compared Palin to Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, saying
that they, too, had been caricatured and dismissed by mainstream voices. The
linkages are untenable, Meacham writes. "A successful two-term governor of
California, Reagan had spent decades immersed in politics (of both the left
and the right) before running for president. He did like to call himself a
citizen-politician, and Lord knows he had an occasionally ambiguous
relationship with facts, but he was a serious man who had spent a great deal
of time thinking about the central issues of the age. To put it kindly, Palin,
however promising a governor she is, has not done similar work."
Meacham writes that he could be wrong, and perhaps Palin will somehow
emerge from the hurly-burly of history as a transformative figure who was
underestimated in her time by journalists who could not see, or refused to
acknowledge, her virtues. "But do I think that I am right in saying that
Palin's populist view of high office -- hey, Vice President Six-Pack, what
should we do about Pakistan? -- is dangerous? You betcha."
"A key argument for Palin, in essence, is this: Washington and Wall Street
are serving their own interests rather than those of the broad whole of the
country, and the moment requires a vice president who will, Cincinnatus-like,
help a new president come to the rescue," Meacham writes. "The problem with
the argument is that Cincinnatus knew things. Palin sometimes seems an odd
combination of Chauncey Gardiner from 'Being There' and Marge from 'Fargo.' Is
this an elitist point of view? Perhaps, though it seems only reasonable and
patriotic to hold candidates for high office to high standards. Elitism in
this sense is not about educational or class credentials ... It is, rather,
about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started in life. Jackson,
Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton
were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary
things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around
them. This is much less evident in Palin's case."
Meacham praises Palin for her public service. "If she were seeking a
Senate seat, or being nominated for a cabinet post-secretary of energy, say,
or interior -- the conversation about her would be totally different. But she
is not seeking a Senate seat, nor is she being nominated for a cabinet post,
and so it is only prudent to ask whether she is in fact someone who should be
president of the United States in the event of disaster. She may be ready in a
year or two, but disaster does not coordinate its calendar with ours. Would we
muddle through if Palin were to become president? Yes, we would, but it is
worth asking whether we should have to."
In a counterpoint essay, Karl Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy
chief of staff to President Bush and a Newsweek contributor, writes that, with
respect, Meacham misses the principal arguments for Palin. "She is the
governor of a state with an $11 billion operating budget, a $1.7 billion
capital budget and nearly 29,000 employees; she's got more executive
experience than any candidate for president or vice president this year. In
Alaska she took on the state political establishment, the incumbent Republican
governor and the oil companies. She's a rising star who accentuates McCain's
maverick strengths and a 'hockey mom' who has developed a powerful tie to
ordinary voters."
"That link isn't itself an argument for Palin. But being able to connect
with, and inspire, the public is an asset -- not a liability. As for Jon's
argument against 'everyday Americans' as political leaders, many great
presidents have been more average than elitist. Ronald Reagan, from Eureka
College, was a far better leader than Woodrow Wilson, a former president of
Princeton. Wilson would have given you 100 Supreme Court opinions he disagreed
with, whether you wanted to listen or not," Rove writes.
(Read cover story at www.Newsweek.com)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/162396 - Cover
http://www.newsweek.com/id/162297 - Rove essay
SOURCE Newsweek
